Scramble the social media spin team!

Currently, Disney is grappling with the reverberating effects of its recent big-budget live-action remake “Snow White,” leaving a crater at the box office. As we have covered, the film is looking like a disaster, the likes of which may cost the studio hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, with much of the blame resting with lead actress Rachel Zegler insulting the original film and injecting modern woke attitudes to her role. Now, we can start to wonder if a new case of performance sabotage may be emerging with another Disney property.

One of the other challenges the Mouse House is grappling with is the diminishing prospects from its formerly reliable cash cow, the Marvel franchise of films. Ever since the release of “Avengers: Endgame,” the Marvel releases have been hit-or-miss, with the hits delivering few of the monolithic returns the studio is used to collecting. (The “Deadpool” property being a notable exception.) This summer, the hope has been placed on a dicey entry in the Marvel stable – "The Fantastic Four."

Previous attempts at making this property into a cinematic success have been underwhelming. The initial “Fantastic Four,” released in 2005, was a middling success, and the sequel, “The Rise of the Silver Surfer,” performed slightly less and saw an end to any franchise work. A new version was attempted with director Josh Trank in 2015 and is regarded as among the worst superhero films ever.

Now, it is two decades since this IP was first brought to theaters, and Disney is in total control. (Previously, the cinematic rights to The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, and spinoff character Deadpool were held independently by 20th Century Fox, with Disney buying out that studio officially in 2019.) The hope is that July will deliver a solid hit, a renewed enterprise with these characters, as well as a rejuvenation of the Marvel brand with the release of “Fantastic Four: First Steps.” 

Ahead of the release, the film is getting a severe dose of press-titution from trade magazine Entertainment Weekly, with a lengthy cover article. A set visit is detailed as well as plenty of time spent with each cast member, getting specifics behind their casting as well as exploring how they will address their characters. This is where Disney executives might be experiencing some anxiety-induced frisson.

'The Fantastic Four: First Steps: stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and director Matt Shakman share details about the upcoming Marvel superhero film — and why it's different from what you've seen before. https://t.co/I7vHnEY7Ud

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) April 10, 2025

British actress Vanessa Kirby is probably best known for playing Princess Margaret in the Netflix series “The Crown,” but she has shown her action film bona fides in a pair of “Mission Impossible” films as well as “Fast & the Furious: Hobbs and Shaw.” Kirby will be taking on Sue Storm, and in speaking to EW about her role, she indicates that gender politics and contemporary sensibilities will be a featured component of her character.

(Cue ominous and foreboding music in the score.)

• “If you played an exact '60s Sue today, everyone would think she was a bit of a doormat. So figuring out how to capture the essence of what she represented to each generation, where the gender politics were different, and embody that today, was one of the greatest joys of this. "I've always been really interested in the mess of femininity, and how can you be both? How can you be all the things?"

Uh…oh. 

So, we have another indication that the approach here, much like Zegler and “Snow White,” is to act dismissive towards the source material? The original Fantastic Four comic books were what ended up launching Marvel comics, as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created characters that were a smash and led to decades of new characters and material. Another reason Vanessa Kirby sounds ridiculous in ridiculing those archaic sensibilities: This new film is actually set in the 1960s.

Another question mark comes in the casting of the iconic character of The Silver Surfer. We will see the return of this villain in this initial offering, but with a notable shift – playing that role will be actress Julia Garner, seen in “Ozark.”

The initial images to come from this production over the previous months have looked very promising. The period set designs and retro costumes of the hero quartet have been compelling. Add to this the very fact the story line would be set in the era from which the original comics were created makes for another interesting approach, giving a hopefully fresh spin on the origin of the Four, seen a couple of times already on film.

But now I sense a pause as we get possible indications of modern activist sensibilities injected into a plot set half a century back. Vanessa Kirby’s comments may be reflective of the plot conventions, but even so, we see again the intent of a performer to bring lectures and lesson plans into a production. This is a problem that studios are in need of getting in front of these days.

It was far too late when Disney decided last November that they needed to step in and corral Zegler with a social media “handler,” someone who would oversee her interviews and social media posts. Though her comments from then until the release date were notably more anodyne, she had already poisoned the apple, as it goes. But this is something that is actually spreading through the Hollywood community.

Keith Previte is a film and television producer and he has stated a more proactive practice is coming into play. Previte was telling me that for any of his new projects, they are sitting down with talent ahead of productions and including language in their deals that will hold them responsible for comments that could end up negatively impacting the success of a project. This is a direct reaction to the way Rachel Zegler blatantly torpedoed the success of “Snow White.”

As we discussed, we are already putting clauses into actors contracts that will make this type of behavior a version of "conduct detrimental to the team." With forfeiture of pay, bonuses etc. We are not taking a chance on a full production being up ended by someones stupidity.

— Keith (@KeithPrevite) April 7, 2025

He explained further, “It's something we were just discussing yesterday as we are getting ready to sign a director to our next film, and right after that casting begins.” Surely, this emerging standard was not in place when the new “Fantastic Four” was cast. As such, Disney executives need to get their spin merchants on speed dial and prepare to head off any other PR hand grenades.

That is, unless the studio has yet to learn a lesson and still clings to its woke sensibilities. That sign of growth remains to be proven.

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